The conversion of Matthew

No, not me. I mean that Matthew.

Let me set this up a little bit. Jesus at this point has moved the "headquarters" of His ministry from Nazareth to Capernaum and has just healed the paralytic who was lowered through the roof by his friends. See Matthew 9, Luke 5, and Mark 2 for all the details. As He left the house after the healing (and a very nice verbal thrashing of the Pharisees) He came across Matthew and called him.

What I love about this is all the synoptic gospels record this event in exactly the same way:

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow Me." And he rose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9)

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow Me." And he rose and followed Him. (Mark 2:14)

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow Me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him. (Like 5:27-28)

Wow. Try to imagine the power in just a glance from Jesus. Leaving everything, he rose and followed. I've heard of the doctrine of irresistible grace, but this really pounds that concept home. Even more amazing was that Matthew was a tax collector for the Romans. This office was essentially legalized extortion (imagine the IRS subcontracting to Tony Soprano) and anyone holding that position was considered a traitor to the Jewish people. So the fact that Jesus chose this reviled, contemptible man to become one of His closest associates shows that nobody is beyond redemption.

His conversion, while spiritual in nature, was no less of a miracle than the healing of the paralytic that immediately preceded it. His response was completely opposite to that of the Pharisees, who were the religious "experts" in Israel. Matthew yearned to be free from his sin, they could not even admit they were sinners. Yet another example of "religion" leaving people in total darkness and confusion.

So what will (or did) you do when the call comes?

"Follow Me."

The obligatory 9/11 post

Thinking back to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, I was led to re-examine the reasons behind the attacks. When you dig past the psychology, the political talking points designed to whip people into a frenzy, the cultural differences, and whatever other explanations people try to apply, what everything really boils down to is this:

"I'm right, and you're wrong."

That's the message we were supposed to receive eight years ago. And while I was considering this binary, black/white, right/wrong worldview I was reminded of a message I heard a while back that there are only two religious systems in the world: those based on human achievement, and those not based on human achievement. When everything else is stripped away that's what we're left with - either you can earn salvation based on something you do, or you can't.

No matter what your feelings are regarding such a black and white view, the fact remains only one of these choices can be right. So if it's works based, which set of works is it? Do I only need to be a "good" person? Can I eat ham? Do I go to confession? Kneel and pray at specified times of the day?

Which leads to even further confusion. What happens if I miss a day of prayer? What if I'm killed in a car wreck on the way to confession? How do I know what acts are good, bad, or indifferent? What's the good to bad ratio that gets me into heaven?

More importantly, who decides all of this? A bunch of guys in funny hats? I mean, who died and made them God?

On the other hand, if salvation is not based on anything I can do for myself, what do we have?

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom. 10:9-10)

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— (Eph. 2:4-5)

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified...I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal. 2:16, 21)

I could go on (and on). Getting back to the original point, who's right and who's wrong? The guys in the funny hats, or the creator of the universe? This is a choice you need to settle now, because we all saw eight years ago that life can end literally in the blink of an eye.

Purpose vs. Providence. Or, why serendipity is crap.

I've been thinking lately about the two aspects of God's will, which I always knew as purposeful and permissive. Purposeful being things that God makes happen, and permissive being things that God allows to happen, always with the purpose of displaying His sovereignty. One day recently as I was listening to my podcasts I heard a new term for God's permissive will: providential. While the word itself was not new to me, applying it in this way was: all of mankind's free will decisions, inexplicably, miraculously weaving themselves together into the completion of God's plan.

So it was with this in mind that I realized, much like an episode of Lost, that there are no coincidences. One example that came screaming home to me was how I reconnected with God and found my church. My wife, who works for Weight Watchers, was working at a meeting with another woman who happened to be married to the Youth Pastor at Avalon Church. She had invited us to join her a few times, and when we finally accepted I knew I had found my new home.

So, where's the serendipitous part? Well, in order to work for Weight Watchers you must have gone through the program. Which means you had to be heavy at some point. We were; and we would not have had any success if we had not done the program together.

Basically, if Heather hadn't been working with Brooke, if Heather didn't work for Weight Watchers, if we hadn't gone through the program, I wouldn't be where I am today spiritually. What I'm really getting at is if I had been able to control what I ate back in 2003 none of this would have happened. Coincidence? Random occurrence of the universe? That sounds about as likely as an explosion at the printing plant resulting in a perfectly formed dictionary.

God is always orchestrating events in your life to bring you closer to Him. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes (as in my case) it takes years to see the effects. But there's nothing coincidental or serendipitous about it.